Two died and two injured as balcony slabs fall on construction workers

Balcony slabs came crashing down from the third floor of a building under construction on Spurtank Road caused the death of two construction workers and two others sustained grievous injuries, on Wednesday evening.

A silt plus three-storeyed hotel is being constructed in an area spanning over 30,000 sq.ft of land tucked away at the end of a private road off Spurtank Road in Chetpet.

The work has been going on for over six months and hundreds of labourers including from North India are working on the building.

The construction of three floors has been finished and the car parking facility is being constructed in the basement. Pre-fabricated structures are being used to construct the building, police said.

Balconies on a connecting pathway have been going on for the past few days. On Wednesday, around 4.20 p.m, weighing over 10 tonnes a huge concrete slab, was lowered on the fourth floor by a crane.

“The workers went down to check if the slabs were properly positioned. They were on the floor below when the slab collapsed and came crashing down,” said Appasamy, a construction worker.

More than 10 workers, including Gunasekaran, 23, from Tiruvarur, Raja, 26, from Cuddalore, Manikandan, 25, and Arul, 25, from Cuddalore were on the second floor. “We heard a loud noise and looked up. The slab had fallen on four of our co-workers,” said a labourer.

The Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) and the police were informed and rescue teams were rushed into service.

“We used hydraulic equipment to lift the slabs and rescue those trapped inside. However, only two were alive. One worker fell into a house adjacent to the site,” said a rescue personnel from the TNFRS.

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Those who died have been identified as Gunasekaran and Raja. Manikandan has been sent to Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) hospital and Arul has been admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.

“A case has been registered and we are investigating whether they got proper permission and how the accident happened. It is surprising how the CMDA provided permission to construct such a big hotel in a residential area,” said a police officer.

Vignesh, a relative of Manikandan, said that they had been working at the site for the past four months. “The work will be over in June. I was also there on the spot, I escaped as I had gone to the toilet,” he said.